Disability Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero at the Combined Disability Pride and Women’s Suffrage event hosted by The Ministry of Education Disability Working Group and Women’s Network (From left, Robyn Hunt, Paula Tesoriero, Iona Holsted, Mary Fisher, Matt Frost). Case Study: Putting a Lens on Violence and Abuse towards Disabled People Violence and abuse towards disabled people is a significant problem in Aotearoa New Zealand that has a big impact on disabled people’s lives. Despite disabled people and disability advocates calling for action for many years, little meaningful action has been taken. As with many disability issues, New Zealand data is poor but international research indicates violence against disabled people is at least twice the rate of non-disabled people. This rises to three times the rate for children, and four to ten times the rate for sexual violence towards disabled women and girls. Local evidence, combined with New Zealand’s alarming family violence and sexual violence statistics, suggest similar rates in New Zealand are likely. In 2018, the Joint Venture on Family and Sexual Violence was established to bring government agencies together to work in new ways to reduce family violence, sexual violence and violence within whānau. Its role is to lead, integrate and provide support for everyone involved, and to ensure an effective whole-of-government response to family violence and sexual violence. However, no specific lens was applied to disability. 14 Human Rights Commission Annual Report 2019/20 Violence and abuse have been raised with the Disability Rights Commissioner as a top concern for disabled women. Following stakeholder engagement, the Disability Rights Commissioner set out for the Government a case for the human right of disabled people to live free from violence. The case highlighted the lack of attention paid to the human rights of the disabled to date, the significant gaps in data, the inaccessibility of current services and the lack of comprehensive safeguarding options. It also highlighted the critical need for the inclusion of disabled people and consideration of the unique circumstances of disabled people’s lives right at the outset of the Joint Venture’s work. Setting out the case informed by disabled people and key stakeholders has successfully drawn attention to the issue and secured commitment from the Joint Venture to engage with disabled people and the Disability Rights Commissioner, to work on data, service accessibility and specialised responses. In addition to the work with the Joint Venture, the Commission is working with other stakeholders on violence and abuse issues that may benefit from more independent action.